You have probably seen photos of these guys before when reading about Japan. They are tanuki statues and they are everywhere. The statues are often just like this, depicting them with a turtle shell hat and a jug of sake. It looks like I stumbled upon an entire family of them here. You’ll notice even junior has his small jug of sake.

That's tah-nuu-key.

The tanuki is an actual animal that is unique to Japan. They are similar in appearance to racoons and small dogs so they are often translated raccoon dog in English. They are, however, neither a raccoon nor a dog, and these days I think the trend is to not attempt to translate it and instead use the Japanese word since we are talking about an animal that only exists in Japan.

If you watch Japanese movies or play Japanese video games, you have likely seen these guys at least in passing.

Like foxes (kitsune), tanuki are also thought of as mystical spirits (yokai). They are usually not evil and have a very jovial nature, but they are mischievous and delight in playing tricks on humans.

The most obvious feature of the tanuki are their huge balls. In the photo above the statue are a bit dirty, but you can still see the huge balls between junior's legs. This is something we'd never see in the West and most of us might be slightly embarrassed to see something like this. In Japan, however, everyone laughs at it as a silly thing. They even have a song about tanuki balls that all kids learn. It goes:

Tan tan tanuki no kintama wa
Kaze mo nai no ni
Bura bura

Tan-tan-tanuki’s balls
Even when there is no wind
They swing, swing

Kind of catchy, eh?

They aren't just big balls, though. They are magic! According to yokai.com:

Aside from their powerful ability to change their shape, perhaps the most famous attribute that tanuki possess is their large and magical testicles, which they can adapt to any need. They are used as weapons, drums, fans to keep cool, even umbrellas. Often, tanuki incorporate their testicles into their disguises: the tanuki becoming a shopkeeper and its testicles transforming into the shop; or perhaps a palanquin complete with servants to cart the tanuki from place to place.

If you want an idea of the craziness of the mythology around these guys, go rent the Ghilbi movie Pom Poko which features tanuki as the main characters. You may want to watch the Japanese version (with subtitles) because I believe Disney edited the English version to remove all mentions of them and cover the images as possible.

Here is a sample:

If you are unsure what you saw, they used their magic balls first as parachutes and then as weapons.

Keep in mind, this very much is a children's film. In Japan there simply isn't the shame or embarrassment at talking things like this that there is in the West.

You'll never look at tanuki the same way again.

	David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.